Power BI extract .pbix and decode DataModel from XPress9

Question

How can I automate the exporting of .pbix to .pbit without Microsoft services? Some hacky solutions using autogui, power automate amongst others. Otherwise does anyone have a python solution or any solution to decode DataModel file from .PBIX XPress9 Algorithm? Currently the only way to inspect a .PBIX is to export to .PBIT from within PowerBI Desktop.

Sadly, all current solutions point to Microsofts Sql Server Analysis Services (SSAS).

Power BI .pbix files are just zipped files. When exporting all files from the .pbix, the DataModel file is a binary encoded with XPress9 algorithm. The DataMashup file no longer exists as of August 2021 Power BI version 2.72.5556.801.

Here is publication on Xpress9 for those who are interested.

Brendin

Answer 1

Both .pbix and .pbit are zipped files under the hood, so you can proceed the same way with both once you get a hold on them. For the record, the DataMashup file is still very much in place for me as we speak (October 2022).

As it turns out, a .pbit file is nothing more than a .pbix files with the DataModel file removed. So you can automate the exporting by getting the .pbix first (through the APIs or otherwise), unzip the archive, remove the DataModel files, rezip it and rename to .pbit, simple as that.

Now, if you are interested in decoding the DataModel file, this is another, and more complicated, story. AFAIK, there is not way to decode XPress9 outside of Microsoft.

Semiautomatic